Work Text:
Shelby’s desk lamp flickers dangerously, and she braces herself for what she knows is coming . It blinks out moments later, and her sewing machine whirs to a stop.
They sigh heavily. “Not again,” they mutter to themself. They pump the pedal of their machine as if revving a car engine, but it stays off completely. Without the clunking and humming of her machine, they can hear the distant rumble of thunder from outside, and the last chord Avid strikes on his guitar as he ceases playing from the room next door.
There’s a knock at their studio door a moment later.
“Come in,” she calls out, swiveling around in her seat.
The dark room is flooded with the light of a phone flashlight as Avid steps into the room.
“I can’t believe this is happening again!” Shelby complains. “It’s been, what? Two days?”
“Two days, yeah. I was in the middle of a recording too.”
“Really? Oh, that sucks.”
Avid shrugs. “It happens, I guess. What were you up to?” He rests an arm on the back of Shelby’s chair, leaning over to check out what she’d been working on.
Shelby tugs at the fabric to free it from the sewing machine where they’d left off, and snips off the loose thread. They hold it up for Avid to see, showing off a patchwork of patterned fabrics sewn into pleats. “I’ve been working on it all day, It’s going to be a skirt, kind of a cool artsy style,” they explain.
“Wow, that’s cool!”
“Agreed, some of my clients have such great style.” Shelby drapes it back down over her work station. “The commission due date is Friday, but I guess I’m done for tonight.”
“You’e not going to hand sew this time?” Avid asks.
Shelby shakes her head. “Last time I just ended up ripping out half the stitches once the power came back.”
“So… break time then?”
Smiling, Shelby leans up to give him a gentle little kiss on the cheek. “Break time,” she agrees as she gets up from her seat.
She follows him out of the studio, and they stop in the bedroom, for Shelby to change into a set of silky red pajamas, and for Avid to grab a couple of candles and a long reach match off the bureau.
“The living room is gonna smell crazy again, huh?” Shelby jokes as they make their way down the hall.
Avid glances down at the candles in his arms. “Let’s see, we’ve got ‘coastal breeze’, ‘sandalwood and rose’, and ‘sweet butter cookie’.”
“Yikes.”
The living room is already dimly illuminated by the glow of the city from beyond the windows. Avid sets the candles down on the coffee table, striking the match to light the wicks one at a time. “If this keeps up, I’ll buy us some unscented candles for next time.”
“Maybe a lantern too,” Shelby agrees.
Avid extinguishes the match. “And a new flashlight.”
Shelby settles down onto the couch, pulling the plush blanket draped over the back of it down onto her lap. “O maybe they should just fix the power. I swear it didn’t get knocked out this often in the old place, even when the weather was bad."
“I think buying more candles and flashlights might be a more realistic solution.” He shakes his head and smiles. “You want music again tonight?”
“Oh yes please! And my book if you’d grab it!”
“Of course, yeah. Are you still reading Carmilla?” Avid muses over the bookshelf, grabbing the old-fashioned crank-radio off the top shelf in the meantime.
“Mhm!”
Avid finds Shelby’s book, then selects a book for himself as well – The Poppy War, one that’s been on his TBR list for a few months n0w. He tucks both books under his arm, and settles down onto the couch beside Shelby.
“Thanks. I might actually finish it tonight!”
“Let me know if I should read it next.”
“So far I think you’d like it.”
Avid sets about winding up the radio. He cranks it for a good couple of minutes while Shelby settles back into her book, and starts flipping through channels once he’s got it going. He finally finds a station playing soft classical music, and decides it’s a good fit for the evening. He sets it on the coffee table, then settles back into the couch with Shelby.
Pulling half the blanket into his own lap, Avid glances over at his partner. She’s too absorbed in her book to really notice, so he reclines against the opposite arm rest and props his legs up on Shelby’s lap. At this much, Shelby puts their book down for a moment.
“Can I help you?” They ask with a curious little smile.
“Just getting cozy.”
“Uh-huh…” Shelby marks her page so she can close her book properly for a moment. She shifts, pushing Avid off her for a moment, and adjusts herself so she can instead lay between his legs, resting her head against Avid’s chest. She readjusts the blanket back over them both, then tilts her head up so she can look back at him. “If you wanted to cuddle, you could’ve just asked.”
A stupid smile makes its way over Avid’s expression. He cards his fingers through Shelby’s hair with one hand, cracking open his book with the other. “Oh, I love you.”
“Mhm, love you too.” Shelby delves back into their own reading, comfortably situated where she is. The song on the radio switches to a new, softer melody, and she feels Avid settle a little more heavily as he turns the first page of the book.
A while goes by, the room filling with the – surprisingly pleasant – mixed aromas of the candles, the radio having shuffled through about a dozen songs by now. Rain patters softly against the window behind them, and another roll of thunder sounds distantly. Shelby can feel Avid’s chest rising and falling more steadily beneath them, and they take another break from reading to glance back at him. They smile to themself as they see that Avid has started to doze off, and reach a hand down to give his thigh a gentle squeeze before returning to their book.
A while more goes by. The thunder grows quieter, and the rain softens from a downpour to a gentle drizzle against the glass. A dozen more songs, a few dozen more pages, and Shelby startles when the lights of the apartment suddenly all flicker back on at once. A beep sounds as power returns to the microwave, and the ambient hum of the electric heater and the fridge fill the apartment with familiar white noise.
Avid groans as he’s roused from sleep by the sudden lights and noise, and Shelby marks her page as she sits up.
Avid yawns. “Nooo…. Does this mean we have to go back to working,” he complains tiredly, nearly interrupted by the yawn that follows.
“No way, I already called it quits,” says Shelby. “Here, I’ll take care of it.” She stretches as she gets up, shuffling into the kitchen to turn off the lights that had switched on. She returns to the living room and flicks all those lights back off too, voluntarily putting the room back in darkness. “Let’s just pretend the power didn’t come back.”
Avid yawns again, and smiles sleepily at her. “I like that plan.” He holds his arms out to invite Shelby back into an embrace.
Shelby doesn’t even bother grabbing their book back off the coffee table. They instead accept Avid’s invitation, and crawl right into his arms so they can lay chest to chest, and press a chaste, sweet kiss to his nose.
Avid runs a hand soothingly down her back, the other hand combing her hair softly back to press a kiss to her temple in return.
Shelby settles down against him and closes her eyes. “You’re warm.”
Avid giggles softly. “So are you.” His hands still, both falling to rest on the small of her back, holding her loosely and comfortably in the embrace. It doesn’t take long for his breathing to return to a slow, natural rhythm, eyes falling shut as he dozes back off.
Shelby themself isn’t far behind. Between Avid’s soothing warmth, and the relaxing sound of rain pattering against the window, she can’t help but begin to feel sleepy. The thought of work crosses their mind one last time. They could go back to sewing, maybe they should, now that the power is back, but then again, how often do they just let themself just relax? Not often enough, that much they’re sure of. They deserve a break, and there needn’t be any further justification to allow themself some rest.
So when Shelby’s eyes grow heavier, and her muscles begin to soften, she allows herself to slip into a restful slumber cozied up with her partner.